does it really matter if the chicken was never frozen?

Is there a difrent food you should feed a gun dog vs a mut.

also I hear about dog food that makes it poop less, is that really a good thing. If I pooped less the doctor would just prescribe another pill.

all input will help me descide what one to get, what one should I get?

Do you have a gun dog or a mut? A gun dog needs a better grade of food as he works hard and needs to be ready to hunt and then recover. Any quality food will do for a mut.

This topic has came up a few times. Here is a link to one of them.
Hope it helps.

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/u...ood#Post1073877

Working dogs need a good reliable diet. Think of them as olymic athletes and you won't find those guys training and living on TV dinners!

Less stool is typically indicative of a quality food. Stool is what's left of a dog food after they've absorbed all the good stuff. That's assuming your dog is healthy in all other respects. Some think that they can save money by feeding a cheaper food. But what the don't realize is you may have to feed more of that cheap food for the dog to realize the same nutrient intake. So typically a low volume, tight stool is preferred and reflects the feeding of a quality food.

I think a dog needs it's fiber. I'm feeding Purina Dog Chow in the summer, and my dogs are doing fine. I'll switch to ONE during hunting and trial season.

Purina Pro Plan "All Life Stages".

All of our dogs eat it...from the wife's toy poodle to our Chessie, and the results are very good.

It's not cheap...around a $1 per pound depending on where you purchase it.

I feed Loyall High Performance. It's about .80/lb and the dogs look good and have plenty of energy. It also comes in 50 lb bags, saves me trips to the feed store. Brad B nailed the "why" question.

Purina one Lamb & Rice year round. Close to $1/pound.

I've also had people whine about the cost of a premimum food. My response is this. Even if you're just an average hunter, look at what you've paid for all the stuff you use to get you there and enjoy the sport then explain why you think you can skimp on food for your partner that works his butt off for you on those few weekends in the field. I've seen folks with $3,000 shotguns, a dog with $10,000 in training and then they want to feed the dog some crappy food!! Doesn't make sense to me.

Good luck to all you guys hunting tomorrow, stay cool and don't let the dogs overheat.

In my opinion it matters on ingredients not price or brand. If within the first four ingredients you see corn run. Dogs are carnivores. About the only thing your dogs body can do with corn is make turds, a lot of them. Cows were made to eat corn and can not digest it completely with four stomachs. One of the most popular brands out there that costs $60 per 40lbs, has corn as second ingredient and ground sorghum as third. I pay half that for better ingredients and over a third more protein. Just my 2 cents!

Cow's have 7 stomachs and they digest it just fine.... It's not fed whole but is ground. It's a great carb.

Old Dairy Maid regards,

Angie

Corn is fine just as long as its not in the top 3 in the ingrediments. it's just fiber and dogs need it too!

Rumen,Recticulum, Omasum and Abomasum. What are the other three? It is technically one stomach with four compartments. The complicated digestive system of a ruminant is the only reason they can get any nutrition out of corn.

Eat some corn tonight and tell me what you think in the morning!

Current Dairy Man!

Regards,

Okay smarty pants,,, so it's been a while...LOL The corn in dog food is extruded and is a very good source of energy. It's all on how it's processed.

I do like a tasty ear of corn...;) Not that I'll get much out of it.

Here's a nice reference....

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=betterproducts

Angie

I feed my dog pro plan performance formula, and my brother feeds his the cheapest he can find, can't tell a difference, dogs are pretty impressive

same here, year round

It's a good idea to have a few foods you like and switch them throughout the year. However good a food might be, it still doesn't have enough variety to be fed year round. Periodically changing the food will provide your dog with more nutrients.

I disagree. It really depends on how active you dog is. I feel my dog high quality, high energy food, because he goes on runs with me. Biologically, a mutt needs the same nutrition as a gun dog, or other purebred dog.

As far as pooping less...if you feed a dog food that is high energy with less filler, then you don't need to feed him as much volume of food. If you feed him a diet that is half cornmeal, you will be feeding him double just to get him enough nutrition, and he will be pooping double. When you look at cost of food, look at how long the bag will last you based on feeding amounts, not just if it is a 30 or a 50 pound bag at X dollars.

I feed my dog eukanuba venison and potato. Used to feed stuff that was a little cheaper, but had a feeling he was allergic to either one of the main proteins or starches. Switched to this food, #1 ingredient is venison, #2 is potatoes. He does fine with that. It is expensive, but an extra 10 bucks a month for a dog that thinks I walk on water and greets me every morning like he hasn't seen me in years is worth it.

I feed my dog Innova Large Breed. I wouldnt recommend it at $65 per 30lb. bag. He does seem to do really well on it though. Once he phases out of the puppy food I will probably switch over to Eukanuba venison and potato.

Our 3 dogs eat Taste of the Wild after Duck25 turned me on to it and they LOVE it. 1 of the 3 is a dog worth having the other two are mommas The lab maintains her weight with a 3 cups a day and her coat always shines, the vet even asked last time I had her in there what I fed her because her coat really looked good.

Why would you think you'd need to switch foods around during the year? If you feed a quality food, why change?

I just got off of the phone with my vet & he said,

Changing food should in no way change nutrient absorption.

Edit: Should not change nutrient absorption rate.

We actually suggest the opposite... We recommend do not switch your dogs food throughout the year unless needed. Switching foods typically just causes a upset GI tract.

Now I do switch our dogs from a large breed adult to an active formula during the hunting season but that is as much adjusting as I do.... Also remember if you do switch food you should do it gradually over a week time frame.